Roswell Fanatics is a FAN-FICTION board - We do not allow the posting of any original works. Nor do we allow the posting of works about real people (e.g. actor fics) All fics must be written in the English language.

We realize that debate and discussion can sometimes become heated when strongly held opinions are involved, but when we feel that a user has crossed the boundaries of polite behavior they will be contacted by a Mod or an Admin and warned to tone it down. Lively discussion is welcome, attacks and open attempts to incite a fight are not. If the user chooses to ignore the “warning” and continues on the previous path then a second warning will be given and a strike will be issued against the user in question. The user will then be given an automatic forty-eight ( 48 ) hour suspension in which to cool down. If, after the user’s account is reactivated, the user still continues on the same path another warning and a second strike will be issued, followed by an automatic one (1) week suspension of the user's account. If, after the user's account has been reactivated a second time, the user still continues to be disruptive then a third strike will be issued and the user’s account will be permanently deleted and the user will be banned from the board.

Disruptive Behavior and/or Insubordination will NOT be tolerated.

Attacking and/or Ignoring the Administration Team which includes any and ALL Mods will NOT be tolerated.

Flaming and/or bashing of actors in feedback or any discussion thread will NOT be tolerated.

Using all caps when you type is considered shouting in netiquette. Please keep this in mind for posting, as well as replying.

If you are posting a story, it is recommended that you utilize a spell checker to sort through typos and other grammatical errors or a beta-reader. Utilize general typing rules such as: using quotation marks; spacing after punctuation; and breaking the story apart into appropriate paragraphs. It makes the story easier to read and follow.

It is considered good form for all readers to leave feedback for the authors, even if it is just "Thanks. I like this story." Of course, longer, detailed feedback is also very much encouraged.

In all posts, please be aware that certain things distort the board width. Such as using any of the smilies in a long string, or stretching out a word by repeating letters. When such posts are found, they will be edited.

When posting a story please keep all parts, chapters or updates on one thread.

You may not complete a story belonging to another writer, or write a sequel without permission from the original writer. This permission must be sent in pm form to an admin of this site (Angel, Kzinti_Killer, or jbangelo)

Last edited by Bordersinsanity on Sat Mar 04, 2006 3:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Spamming is absolutely forbidden. What is spamming? It is registering under false pretenses to post commercial information in a post, or to incorporate commercial information into your profile through your signature or your web page. Common forms of spam include, but are not limited to, pornography, on-line gambling, adult dating, and assorted on-line drug sales.

For the purposes of this rule commercial information will be defined as the advertising of goods or services. If there is any doubt in your mind about whether or not your post or site qualifies as commercial information you are required to get approval from the management team before posting it.

The posting of commercial information in a post, web page, or sig that is not Roswell related, board related, fan fiction related, or fan (any fandom will do) related is strictly forbidden.

New users will be examined upon registering, and if they are found to be spamming their account will be immediately deleted without warning, along with any posts they may have made. Also, their IP will be banned.

Spammers will not get three strikes as is customary for a rules violation, they will get no strikes at all.

Note: This does not affect non-commercial uses of the web page privilege. You may still post links to archives, blogs, personal web pages, and other fan-related pages. Current registered users, as of 01/01/06, who have commercial information in their profiles that may violate the new spam rules will be asked to remove it, failure to comply will result in an admin removing it for you, and a strike being issued against your account.

Further Note: Being able to link to your web page in your profile is a privilege, not a right. We are a mixed community, and we have to think of the rights of all the users, not just the occasional determined, if harmless, maverick. To that end, the management of Roswell Fanatics reserves the right to remove any web page or link from your profile that it finds objectionable, whether it be spam or not. If you need clarification, please contact an admin or mod.

All board members are responsible for reading, understanding, and adhering to the board's plagiarism policy!

PLAGIARISM DEFINED:

The American Heritage College Dictionary defines plagiarism as: "to use and pass off as one's own, the ideas or writings of another; to appropriate for use as one's own passages or ideas from another."

The Canadian Intermediate Dictionary defines plagiarism as: "the act of taking and using as one's own the idea, writing, invention, etc. of another; especially the taking and using of passages, plot, etc. from the work of another writer."

"It is the responsibility of the fan fiction community as a whole to safeguard itself against plagiarism."

"Plagiarism is stealing the ideas and thoughts of another author and representing them as one's own. An example of this is taking a portion of someone else's story and putting it into your own story without getting permission from and giving credit to the original author. Using sections of a story in which the original portions have undergone minor changes (wording, characters, etc.) but are still reasonably recognizable also qualifies as plagiarism. Plagiarism is wrong and is one of the worst offenses in the writing community because it is the *theft* of another person's creative efforts."

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Plagiarism can be broken down into two types: Quote or Copy Plagiarism and Idea Plagiarism.

Copy Plagiarism is easy to spot. When you copy something from another source and you do not credit the source, that is copy plagiarism. Whether you copy a few words, a few sentences, entire paragraphs, or entire chapters... it makes no difference. Copying is copying and copying is Plagiarism. This applies if you are copying from published printed material such as a book; a movie; or a TV show.

Example of copy plagiarism using the book "The Transall Saga" by Gary Paulsen:

Original Text:
"Thirteen year-old Mark Harrison sat on a white slab of shale studying a small army of ants that was carrying off the crumbs that had dropped from a granola bar he'd just eaten." (p.3)

Text Plagiarized:
"Sixteen year-old Liz Parker sat on a white slab of rock studying a small army of aliens that was carrying off the orbs she and her friends had uncovered."

Question: Are you saying I can never quote anything?Answer: No. You can use quotes of dialog from the show Roswell, for example, within reason, as long as you state in the disclaimer that you will be using it and what episode it came from. Using a few lines of episode dialog is fine. Quoting over half of an episode is not. For legal purposes, it must be done in moderation.

Question: What about quoting material from songs or poems?Answer: Let's say you want use a line from a poem. Put the text you are quoting in italics where it falls in your chapter. For cases where the text will be broken up throughout the chapter, list the title and author in your disclaimer.

Example: In the story "For The Roses" by Tesseract. At the beginning of each new chapter, she uses a quote from a poem. Notice she references the author directly under the quote and she puts the text in italics.

Question: What about quoting material from books?Answer: Let's say you will be using a line from a movie or book at some point in your story. Put this fact in your disclaimer like so...

Example: Disclaimer: During the conversation between Max and Liz, Max will quote a line from the Movie "XYZ".

Make sure you write out what the line or phrase is. Put it in italics. From a book or written source, list the title, the author, and the page or chapter number the quote comes from, again in italics.

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Idea Plagiarism is taking someone else's idea and using it without crediting the original. We've all seen stories that are "inspired by". Being inspired by another work is fine as long as you take the General Premise only and then create something from there. What is not OK is following the plot in detail, chapter by chapter, in whatever you write.

Ideas or facts that are considered "Public Domain" do not need to be credited. These are those ideas or facts that are common knowledge or commonly used. They are well documented in many, many texts and sources or used repeated in many sources: Examples: Max was an alien. Antar was the alien's home planet. A UFO crashed in Roswell in 1947. Majestic 12 was a secret government agency. Area 51 is a secret government base that held a UFO or aliens.

Example 1: Again, using the book "The Transall Saga" by Gary Paulsen:
Mark falls into a red beam of light and is transported to another dimension, which turns out to be an Earth of the future after a nuclear holocaust.

Adapting this idea correctly for Roswell...
Liz falls into the beam of light and finds a post-EOTW situation.

Robert is doctor and the last surviving human after a war of biological weapons. A plague caused as a result of the war killed off all of humanity except for a small group of human mutants. The mutants believe technology caused the war and see Robert as the symbol of technology, believing he must die. During the course of the movie, he discovers there are still surviving pockets of normal humans and he tries to save them using his own blood as an antidote for the plague.

Adapting this idea correctly for Roswell...
This example uses the general idea as a starting point then goes off in it’s own direction.

Liz is a doctor. After a war between humans and aliens using biological weapons, a plague kills off all of humanity. A small group of evil aliens remains on earth searching for survivors. Liz discovers a surviving pocket of humans and friendly aliens (Max and the gang). She works with them to try to save themselves and what's left of humanity while battling the evil aliens.

Example of this same idea that would be considered Idea Plagiarism…
Liz is doctor and the last surviving human after a war between aliens and humans using biological weapons. A plague caused as a result of the war killed off all of humans except for a small group of mutants. The mutants believe alien technology caused the war and see Liz as the symbol of that technology. Therefore they want her dead. She discovers a surviving pocket of normal humans and aliens and tries to save them using her own blood as an antidote for the plague.

As you can see, this example uses too many of the plot points. It gets into too many of the specifics of the movie.

Good examples of ideas adapted for fanfic on these boards:Secrets in the Dark by Starlady: Using the book's general premise as a jump-off point for a fic of her own, but still mentions the book in her disclaimer.Regarding Max by Deejonaise: She uses the general premise of the movie of "Regarding Henry" but goes in a completely different direction.

Question: I'm inspired by a movie or a book. I want to use it correctly and stay out of trouble. How do I do that?Answer: ALWAYS put the source of your inspiration in your Disclaimer. If it is a movie, list the title. If it is a book or song, list the title and who wrote it. If it is another Fanfic, list the Title, The author, and most importantly... Make sure you get the author's permission BEFORE you write it. As a double dose of prevention, run whatever you are writing past a mod.

Question: What do I do if I read something that is similar to a story I'm writing but I know I didn't intend to plagiarize?Answer: Contact a mod immediately.

Question:Ok, I understand what plagiarism is, but how can you tell? Maybe it was an accident?Answer: The dead give away is "Patterns". Typically, when something is plagiarized, there are noticeable patterns; Multiple instances in the story in question. When you read a 500 page story and 1 character quote is the same as what is written in another source, that may be unintentional. However, when you read a story and you find several similarities or direct copies of text as another work, that is evidence that it was intentional. Think about it. What are the odds that someone "accidentally" plagiarized someone else's work when you find 3 or 4 or 5 or even more exact or similar passages?

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Why does Roswell Fanatics have such a strict policy against Plagiarism?

Among professionals, Fan Fiction writing is not a highly respected area of creativity to begin with just by the nature of the fact that we are borrowing for someone else. By virtue of the grey area we play in, Fan Fiction writers should all hold themselves to the highest level of integrity.

Fan fiction is technically copyright infringement. We violate someone's copyright with every single word we post. Most producers of television shows, professional authors, movie producers, etc turn a blind eye to our passion because it brings them free publicity. It keeps the interest in the fandom alive.

There are producers, actors, writers, and authors that admit to trolling Fan Fiction boards. Don't ever think that the original creators do not know what we do.

Legally any and all of the creators and producers of the television shows, movies, and novels that we borrow our inspiration and characters from have the right to shut us down at their pleasure. They could even round up the best of our work and publish it for their own profit and we wouldn't have a legal leg to stand on.

There are some authors, creators, producers, etc that do NOT approve of Fan Fiction and don't want their works used. Notable names include Anne Rice, Anne McCaffrey, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Orson Scott Card, Dave Duncan, Lawrence Watt-Evans, Robert Asprin, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Terry Goodkind, Mercedes Lackey, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. A complete listing of those that do NOT tolerate Fan Faction can be found at The Writer's University: http://www.writersu.net/

Dip into their territory in the slightest and you'll get a "cease and desist" letter from their lawyers. Legally they have the right.

For all the reasons above, it is even more critical that we are vigilant on our stance. If a published novelist, for example, were to ever come across one of their works plagiarized in a story on Roswell Fanatics, they could sue and shut us down.

We, at Roswell Fanatics, feel that when a judgment is made, if there is any doubt, it is best to error on the side of caution to protect the board and our community.

An independent plagiarism board has been created to make decisions on any plagiarism case. These people are not a part of the Roswell community and can be counted on to make an impartial decision. The mods and administrators will collect the evidence, but the Plagiarism Panel will decide the final judgment by majority vote.

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Plagiarism - The Last Word

These are the plagiarism rules for Roswell Fanatics. Read them, learn them, live them! There will be no second chances. If a writer is proven to have plagiarized a story from a published source or from another fanfiction writer, that person will immediately be banned from Roswell Fanatics.

1) Any fic that is proven to be copied word for word from ANY other written source, even with it being credited, will instantly be deleted and the writer banned from the board. This includes fictional, published works and fics written by other fan-writers in any fandom.

2) Any fic proven to be copied scene by scene from any other written source or any movie will instantly be deleted and the writer banned from the board.

3) If there is any doubt, Roswell Fanatics will error on the side of caution. Fan Fiction in and of itself is copywrite infringement. Rather than taking the chance of being sued and having the board shutdown, we would prefer to be safe rather than sorry.

In the end, not only is plagiarism a betrayal of the writers from which the words and ideas are stolen, it is also a betrayal of your readers. We feel that it is wrong to claim someone else’s work as your own, particularly since so many of us are writers here as well as readers. We pour our blood, sweat and tears into our fics and feel that we should be guaranteed the knowledge that all other writers on this board are doing the same.

Finally, from this point on, there will be no second chances. This will remain posted here and on every board at Fanatics. If you choose not to have read it, that will not be an excuse. Every single user is now held accountable for their actions regarding this very important issue. If you are presently the owner of a thread that has violated one of these rules, even if it was started BEFORE these rules were posted, you will still be held accountable. So if you are, I suggest you get rid of it before we notice. And, trust me, we WILL notice. We have had some very helpful users in the past few days informing us of cases that we are taking very seriously.

There have been some issues with authors receiving negative or harassing feedback and PM's lately. In response to that, we are posting this anti-harassment policy. Offenses will be treated like any other on the board. In other words, three strikes and you are out.

1) Respect an author's wishes:

It is their story and, as long as they follow the rules, they can tell it however they please. Therefore, if you do not agree with the direction a story is going, simply don't read it. Not liking a story does not give anyone an open license to bash it or to bombard an author with comments through PM.

Also, if an author, for some reason or another, requests that you no longer comment on their story, or send them PM's, respect these wishes.

2) Constructive criticism is one thing, being rude is another:

We were taught early on in life that the best way to treat others is how we would like to be treated ourselves. It's the Golden Rule. Please remember it when posting feedback for a story.

Here is an example of the difference:

Say you are reading a story where Max is a lead character, but he is not being portrayed in a fashion you agree with....

WRONG THING TO WRITE:"Max would never act like that.... the way you write him is stupid" - or any other variations of the same.

RIGHT THING TO WRITE:"I never pictured Max's character doing that... how did you come up with that idea?"

If that doesn't work for you, then don't say anything. It is better to be safe than sorry.

3) Do not air out personal grievances publicly:

Feedback is not the place to haul out a soapbox. Do not do so. No one else should have to read/witness if you have a personal dispute with a story or author. If you have a major disagreement with either, bring it to a mod and let us handle it. That way, no one else is force to deal with it.

This is not saying that you can't show how you relate to a story in a personal way. If an author has written something that mirrors a personal experience and you want to let them know they handled it in a wonderful manner, please do so. Just remember, not everyone reading the story will want the details. If it is too personal, please PM the author with your comments/praise.

4) These rules do not just apply to writers and their stories:

In other words, be kind to ALL of your fellow Roswellians, whether you like them or not. We will not tolerate harassment of any member. This is a fan fiction board, and that's one of the last places a person should be afraid to spend time on. Trust me, it's not worth risking banishment just to bug someone on the board. Please don't consider it. If a conflict with a board member turns out to be a big problem, bring it to a mod. That is what we are here for.

As stated above, any infringement on these rules will result in a warning. If you receive three warnings you will be banned permanently. No exceptions. So, when leaving feedback, keep in mind this one simple notion. If you can't leave feedback in a nice, polite manner, it is best not to leave it at all. We will find out if you do otherwise, so don't make us ban you. We take no pleasure in it.

We are not trying to regulate your opinions. Our only goal is to keep Fanatics a happy and pleasant place for Roswell fans to read and write fan fiction.

Last edited by Bordersinsanity on Sat Mar 04, 2006 3:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

PRUNING
Up until now we have pruned active stories in one of two ways:

Mass pruning of entire Boards set for a specific date.

Mods contacting authors privately to warn them of a pruning.

This last method has sometimes caused authors to feel they were being singled out. In an effort to eliminate that feeling for authors, and to make pruning standard and consistent, we are implementing a new pruning policy. We will prune each story individually as it hits the "target page numbers" that are set for the board it's on.

When stories reach 20 pages, the authors are required to post a note on the pruning thread at the top of their fiction forum stating they are ready for pruning.

If an author does not make a post volunteering for pruning, the mods will automatically prune their story when it reaches 25 pages.

For the two Alternate Universe forums (AU with Aliens & AU without Aliens):

When stories reach 15 pages, their authors are required to post a note on the pruning thread at the top of their fiction forum stating they are ready for pruning.

If an author does not make a post volunteering for pruning, the mods will automatically prune their story when it reaches 20 pages.

The reason that the AU forums have a shorter page count before pruning occurs is that they are the most active. There are a greater number of stories, which tend to be updated more frequently and receive higher volumes of feedback. The AU stories also tend to have fewer chapters, which results in a ratio of more feedback with less story.

Pruning will remove any feedback up to the last chapter update, or the last author's note.

No PM’s will be sent to the authors any longer when it's time for their thread to be pruned. With this new policy it will be the responsibility of each individual author to save what feedback they want to keep. Each author will always be able to tell, simply by looking at the page count of their story, how close they are to getting pruned.

Remember, number of pages on the thread are the deciding factor.

Please realize that this is not being done to deprive authors of their much deserved feedback. It is done primarily to keep our bandwidth (and thus costs for running the board) down. With the added benefit that readers will find it easier to read your stories without going through old feedback.

If your story is up for pruning and you aren't able to save wanted feedback (computer issues, vacation, etc.), just leave a note on the thread to get an extension. If your story is up for pruning and you have not requested an extension, it will be assumed that you have saved your feedback and you're ready to be pruned.

2) Dead & Buried Forum will serve as a stopping ground for fics from the other six boards that are on their way to deletion. If a fic has NOT been updated in over 90 days on one of the six main boards, we will prune it, lock it and then move it to the Dead & Buried Forum. If you do not contact us to give us a reason for your absence during the next 30 days, we will delete all fics that are less than 5 parts.

**It is not a terrible hardship to repost a fic of less than five parts when a writer returns.

**All fics that have 5 or more parts will reside in the Dead & Buried Forum forever or until the time comes when we need more space to accommodate our ever growing completed fanfic forums.

3) If you’re ready to continue a fic that is in the Dead & Buried Forum please contact a mod to have it unlocked and moved back to one of the appropriate six active forums.

4) ALL threads in the Dead & Buried Forum have been pruned of all their feedback and locked. Locking a thread ensures that no new feedback can be posted on that thread. If you are reading a story on the Dead & Buried Forum and would like to show your appreciation to the writer, a PM means just as much.

Rules of the Canon/CC, AU with Aliens, AU Without Aliens and AA/UC/XO Complete FanFic Forum

**Please make sure to save all feedback before contacting a mod, because all fics will be pruned and locked before they are moved .

**If a completed fic is happened upon by a mod and it has been completed for 30 days it too will be pruned/locked/and moved to the appropriate completed forum.

2) ALL threads in the Completed Fanfic Forum have been pruned of all their feedback and locked. Locking a thread ensures that no new feedback can be posted on that thread. If you are reading a story on one of the Completed Fanfic Forums and would like to show your appreciation to the writer, a PM means just as much.

Under NO circumstances are users allowed to post in Dead & Buried or any of the Completed Fanfic Forums.

EXCESSIVE BUMPING
We've had problems with board members going "bump crazy". Of concern are posts that say no more than just "bump", "please update soon", "when are we getting a new part", etc. We have a good number of users that are routinely bumping many fics everyday or more than once a day in this manner. While the support for the authors is very much appreciated, these types of posts are sucking up quite a bit of bandwidth. Keep in mind that the bandwidth not only takes into account the words actually used in the post, but also any smilies, pics or signatures from that user. Nearly everybody who visits the fan fiction forums are looking for updates. It is annoying for the readers to wade through two or three pages of nothing but bumps, trying to find the updates. This is actually a disservice to the authors. In an effort to keep our costs (and thus bandwidth) under control, as well as making it easier to find updates, we have instituted the following rules regarding bumping a fic. Anyone who violates these rules will receive a strike. See the Three Strikes Rule above.

Each user is allowed *only* five bumps per 24 hours. This means posts that are not direct feedback for a chapter, but general feedback or pleas for a new part, whether it is solely the word "bump" or a longer message that means the same thing.

Do not "bump" a fic that has been bumped within 24 hours. If you have genuine feedback for a story, meaning responses to plot, characters, writing style, etc, that may be posted at any time. This rule only applies to the bumps that have no specific relation to any given fic that it is posted to. If you want to support an author within the time period that prohibits bumping, please either PM or email the author. Authors that do not want to receive that kind of pressure are encouraged to let their readers know this by placing a note in the header of their fic.

STRIKE SYSTEM
Any violations of regulations that require moderator intervention will count as a strike against the user. You will be told you are receiving a strike.

If a user gets three strikes for the same violation, their account will be suspended for 48 hours (2 days).

If after a user's account is reinstated, and they continue to violate that same regulation, they will be suspended for 168 hours (7 days) on their sixth strike.

If after a user's account is reinstated again, and they continue to violate that same regulation, they will be suspended for 336 hours (14 days) on their ninth strike.

Once a user receives ten strikes, their account will be cancelled. So please take note when you are notified of a violation. It is not a joking matter and can result in losing your account on the board.

Last edited by Bordersinsanity on Sun Mar 05, 2006 11:49 am, edited 2 times in total.

Suspension allows a user to see the board as if they were our guest and is only temporary.

Banning doesn't allow the user to get to our board at all. There are no "guest" privileges and it is permanent.

In the event that you have your account suspended, do NOT attempt to re-register under a different user name. Re-registering under a different username will get your account banned permanently.

Whether you personally agree with our rules and regulations or not, we are upfront about them. If you do stumble on them and have the active status of your account affected, please respect us and all the other users on this board who are following our rules and accept your "punishment" like an adult. If you are unsure of any regulation, just ask one of us.

We don't enjoy suspensions or banning anymore than you do. But we need rules to keep our very large membership in some semblance of order.

HOLDING A FAN FICTION HOSTAGE.
This is when an author states 'no feedback, no story' or requires a certain number of feedbacks before they'll post a new part. This is basically extortion. This practice is very strongly discouraged.